Improvement in skin cartridges



J HOTGHKISS.

Cartridge.

No. 34,367. Patented Feb 11, 1862.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JULIUS HOTCHKISS, OF MIDDLETOYVN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN SKIN CARTRIDGES.

,Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 34,367, dated February11, 1862.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J ULIUs HoToEKIss, of thecity of Middletown, in the State of Connecticut, have invented a new andImproved Mode ot' Manufacturing or Forming Cartridges 5 and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full and exact descriptionthereof,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters ofreference marked thereon, like letters in the several figures indicatingthe same or analogous parts.

The object of my invention is to prepare a cartridge which, while itpossesses the requisite strength to resist the wearing away to which itis ordinarily subjected, and be, in a great measure, impervious towater, will at the. same time permit of the certain ignition of thepowder inelosed by it by the contact of flame with its outer surfacefrom burning, priming, or by the contact of a percussion spark, and willalso be carried from the barrel of the gun in which it is used at themoment ot' its discharge, in case it is unconsumed, and which may beused either connected with a ball, as shown in the drawings, or beformed simply to hold the powder.

For this purpose I use either mutton or hogs gut, prepared in the usualway with a view of its application to the purposes of a cartridge, thismaterial being of such a character as to always crisp or shrivel underthe action of heat, so that when a cartridge composed of it is explodedin a gun that portion of it which remains unconsumed will forni, as itwere, an irregular corrugated wad, which, by the force ofthe explosion,will be carried from the gun, instead ot' being converted into a charredresidunm, adhering to and fouling its interior, as is usually the casewith the common paper cartridge.

An objection, however, has heretofore existed to the use of the material.named from the fact that the bers of the gut, in the direction of itswidth, or at right angles to its length, are so fragile and tender as tobe easily separated, and hence the cartridges now made up from thismaterial are liable by the incidents of use to split lengthwise andwaste the powder unless they are wound from end to v end, either bythread or ligatnres ot' india-rubber, or bands of other material foreignto the gut itself; whereas the gut is capable of resisting a veryconsiderable strain it' at right angles toits width, or in the directionof its length, aresistance amply sullicient to meet the requirements ofits use for the purpose named.

The nature of my invention consists in so manipulating and applying asheet or fillet of gut in the act of forming a cartridge as toutilizeits strength in both the directions stated, thus dispensing withall subsequent winding by thread or other material, as now commonlypracticed.

In the drawings, A, Figure 1, represents a fillet of gutcut in properlength to make a cartridge, the gut having been cnt open lengthwise, andlaid flat, as we will suppose, in the right hand of the operator, aformer, B, in the lel't hand ofthe operator being placed upon it, asrepresented in the said ligure. The fillet A is then doubled into thecondition represented in Fig. 2, a portion, c, adhering to the top ofthe former, and becoming measurably set almost at the instant of itscontact therewith. That portion d, in said Fig. 2, which partiallysurrounds, and is in contact with, the former, is then, by the fingersof the operator, pressed down upon the former into the condition asrepresented at d in Fig. 3. The doubled portions of the fillet, whichextend out to the right hand of the former, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3,are then pressed closely together, and wound spirally around the partsindicated at d in Fig. 3, and also down upon and around the stem b ofthe former, either into the condition as shown in Fig. 4 or that shownin Fig. G, the only difference between the condition of the spiralwinding-ot' the [illet shown by the last-named tgnre being that in Fig.4 a single thickness ot' the gut is left at c and c', whereas in Fig. 6the single thickness is left only at c, the spiral winding in the lattercase commencing after the said doubled portions of the gut have beenwound entirely around the upper edge of the former, as indi cated at ain the last-mentioned figure. Fig. 5 shows my cartridge complete andattached to an elongated ball, and made after the spiral winding, asindicated at Fig. 4, the parts c and c being ot' a single thickness, andthe parts c ol' more than one t-hickness oi' the gut or fillet. Fig. 7shows my cartridge complete, with a single thickness oi' the gut at c,and ot fibers of one portion of the gut shall transversely or spirallycross the fibers of another portion of the gut, substantially asdescribed.

JULIUS/ HOT() HKISS.

Witnesses: f

GUSTAVUS DIETERICH, F. S. JACOB.

